Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Insíonn Cumann Ailse na hÉireann dúinn go mbeidh ailse ar dhuine as achan beirt uair éigin le linn a saoil. Tá aithne againn uilig ar dhuine inár bpobal, nó b’fhéidir inár dteaghlaigh, a raibh ailse orthu nó a bhfuil ailse orthu inniu. Tiocfaidh sé mar bhuile throm agus iad ag léamh inniu go bhfuil innealra radaiteiripe ina luí folamh in ospidéil ar fud an Stát mar nach bhfuil an Rialtas sásta an maoiniú agus an pleanáil ceart a thabhairt do straitéis ailse na tíre seo agus nach raibh an Rialtas ábalta é sin a dhéanamh le cúig bliana ón seacht mbliana atá imithe thart.

The sobering reality is that one in two people will have cancer at some point in their lives. When you get that diagnosis, you deserve the best possible chance of surviving the disease and having a good quality of life afterwards. However, people with cancer in Ireland are not being given that chance because of the political choices of the Government.

The Irish Cancer Society yesterday issued a stark warning in respect of cancer services in the State. It pointed out that the cancer strategy has been underfunded in five of the past seven years, leading the CEO of the Irish Cancer Society to say, "Ireland's cancer outcomes may have stagnated or even disimproved". Deputy Harris did not properly fund the cancer strategy in any of the years he was the Minister of Health and it has been underfunded in most of the years since.

The HSE yesterday confirmed that it sought €20 million in additional money to improve cancer services this year. What did the Government give it? It gave zero. Instead, it deliberately underfunded the health service with disastrous consequences for patient safety.

The cancer strategy needs multiannual funding. The Government's decision to deny adequate funding to the cancer control programme means that progress has been piecemeal and partial, and proper workforce planning has not been possible. The Government's other failures across the health services are also having serious consequences for cancer patients. Emergency department overcrowding is overwhelming hospitals and driving cancellations.

All of us know somebody with cancer. It may be a partner, brother, sister, child, parent or friend. Many of us have put our hands in our pockets to support events to fund cancer services in our communities. The fact that lifesaving, vital and expensive cancer equipment is lying idle in many hospitals across the State is a punch in the gut to those families and their friends.

The Irish Cancer Society yesterday told us that radiation equipment is lying idle in hospitals across this country. A spokesperson for the Irish Institute of Radiography and Radiation Therapy said there have been forced machine closures in public facilities due to staff shortages at a time when demand for radiotherapy service is greater than what a fully operational service could provide. This is happening on the watch of the Tánaiste and that of the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, as it happened on the watch of former Minister for Health, Deputy Harris. These are deliberate decisions. The Government made a deliberate choice not to have proper workforce planning. It deliberately made a choice in the budget to underfund the service, as it has done in five of the past seven years. As the CEO of the Irish Cancer Society said to the Joint Committee on Health, and she was absolutely right to say so:

Without proper funding, the national cancer strategy is a plan without action, and a plan without action is not a plan; it is just words. Words are no comfort to someone languishing on a waiting list for a cancer test, getting more worried by the day ...

May I ask the following questions to the Tánaiste? Will the Government reverse its disastrous budget and the decision it consciously made not to provide the €20 million the HSE required to meet the needs of the cancer strategy? Will the Government reverse that decision, as a starting point? What is the Government going to do to ensure that vital radiation equipment is not lying idle in hospitals across the State, which at the committee meeting yesterday we heard is happening? Will it fund the 1,500 additional beds that are so desperately needed to tackle waiting lists and make our hospitals safe?

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